Pioneer Drops Premier Brand

11/02/2009 10:56:15 AM Eastern

By: Amy Gilroy

Long Beach, Calif. - Pioneer is dropping its Premier car audio
brand that has been offered as a limited distribution label for more than 20
years.

The company will end its dual brand strategy of Premier products
for select retailers and Pioneer branded products for mass distribution. Instead,
the company said it will strengthen its Pioneer brand.

"We will cease production of Pioneer Premier products at the end
of 2009." said director of marketing for mobile entertainment Ted Cardenas.

He added, "We're not exiting any categories, we will continue
with the same types of products." The Premier line offered superior features to
the standard line but in recent years the feature differences had narrowed.
Premier CD players allowed a two-year warranty vs. one-year and shipped with an
iPod cable in the box rather than as an option, as on the standard line, said
Pioneer.

Cardenas said the Premier brand diluted the Pioneer name and
caused some confusion globally as Premier has been offered only in the U.S. and
Canada.

Going forward the warranty on all Pioneer products will be one
year, he said.

The move is also expected to result in overhead cost savings to
Pioneer in packaging and inventory management. No layoffs at Pioneer are
expected as a result of retiring the brand.

Pioneer said it will continue to support any Premier products in
inventory or that are sold through the end of 2009 with the same technical,
service and warranty support.